2018 / 12 / 15

Reported by Newtalk JournalistYu-Hsuan Hung"ZOWIE DIVINA PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) International Women's Invitational Tournament sees advanced 48 athletes from Europe, America, and Asia-Pacific competing on the same grounds after the preliminaries. These players will participate in an offline finals at Shanghai, China from December 13th to 16th, showcasing the most professional women's eSport competition to the world."A former full-time streamer, Swedish athlete MajPaj is extremely fond of shooting games and has been playing CS:GO for six years already. She honestly explains that while working as a streamer, she had to play for up to nine hours each day, and after growing tired of such a routine nearly 3 months ago, she determinedly became a Youtuber. She currently serves as a video director and also produces some promotional advertisement videos, mostly critiques on computer hardware and peripherals.

The game that started MajPaj's streaming career was CS:GO. Was she ever subjected to differential treatment because she was a girl when she turned on her microphone in game? She is a tad frustrated: "Yes, that's why when I first started playing CS:GO, I was mostly silent. When you speak and the male players learn that you're a girl, oh… there's a large shift in the way they treat you." But MajPaj immediately adds, "But now female players are no longer subjected to special attention like they were before. This is all because of the online gender equality movement started by the Swedish government about two years ago. People have learned to respect each other online."

When MajPaj's friends learned that she was coming to ZOWIE DIVINA PUBG International Women's Invitational, they were all very surprised because nearly all tournaments in Sweden are gender-neutral, with males and females competing on the same grounds. MajPaj laughs and says, "When my friends knew that I was coming to a women's competition, they thought it was very strange, but this is also my first time joining an exclusively female eSports competition." MajPaj also mentions that there are indeed fewer female eSports players than males, but when people see a female eSports athlete, their typical reactions will be, "Wow! This girl is in eSports! That's super cool!" To MajPaj, Swedish society doesn't hold negative views on girl gamers or girls pursuing a career in eSports.

Having flown all the way to Shanghai for ZOWIE DIVINA, MajPaj excitedly mentions that she has also brought professional photography equipment and that she's very passionate about her current work. While on the subject of whether her parents were supportive of her work, she laughs, "Actually, my parents were very worried at the beginning. My mom thought that if I sat there and played video games all day, I would get ugly, I wouldn't be able to get a boyfriend, and that I wouldn't make any money and finally end up with nothing. But their opinion changed when I made lots of money, and my mom has even subscribed to my channel for three years now!" When asked whether she has set any goals for this tournament, MajPaj says with confidence, "Though I’m not a very good shooter, I make up for this with my coolheadedness, which will lead me to victory!"